矢掛〜堀越宿(Yakage-Horikoshi unofficial inn town): medieval San’yodo route

Going from Yakage to Nanokaichi inn town, I noticed that Google map shows a clear route of medieval San’yodo, almost parallel to Saigoku Kaido/pre-modern San’yodo route. So I decided to track down a little bit. 

Plus, I also found an unofficial inn town called 堀越(Horikoshi). 

Without further ado, here are overviews of routes. The yellow one is Saigoku Kaido/pre-modern San’yodo highway. The blue one is medieval San’yodo. FYI I have not done good research about medieval San’yodo highway because medieval highway routes are not my original focus. However, since the medieval route is so visible in this section, I am adding a bit over the next few articles. 

Starting from westerd edge of Yakage inn town…

The medieval highway route goes more on the north side, along the shape of the bottom of mountains. 

Saigoku Kaido route goes straight west.(more toward 8 o’clock direction) 

The medieval route merges with Saigoku Kaido/pre-modern San’yodo route here. 

For most part, Saigoku Kaido route overlaps with national R-486. But here Saigoku Kaido route goes south of R-486. Horikoshi unofficial inn town is on this section. 

This is the section of Horikoshi unofficial inn town. 

When you google 堀越宿(Horikoshi-juku), this is where the pin shows. 

Further west, you see more old houses. 

Horikoshi is probably a good stop if you are cycling on Saigoku Kaido highway. 

So this is the only sign that explains about Horikoshi unofficial inn town. According to this sign, there were 78 establishments in Horikoshi. 

To get to Horikoshi unofficial inn town, Ibara railways Oda station is located right there. 

Horikoshi is another town that has no reliable online data. 

We are continuing our journey to Nanokaichi inn town.